Greetings all you Decadent Types

(Yeah, I'm including myself in this group)

by Liz Crowe

I’m writing this from the road, from Gatlinburg actually. So far, it feels kind of like a Vegas in the Great Smokey Mountains sans the casinos.  I just drove through late yesterday, saw Pigeon Forge, which is sorta Gatlinburg’s Lake Tahoe I guess. There were buildings touting shows, a huge reproduction of the Titanic (!), any number of “extreme putt putt gold” options, a bunch of bunji jumping things and countless places to graze at a food trough. Then once you run that gauntlet you literally head into the mountains, curving around alongside a river and hit the much more scenic but not less kitschy town of Gatlinburg proper.

At 6 p.m. last night the place was hopping. Sidewalks choked with pedestrians and merry makers.

Why, Liz? Why are you there? Well, the interesting bit is that I lived not a hundred miles north of here from the time I was about 9 until I graduated high school, just over the border in Kentucky. In a dry country. I’ll spare you my formative drinking and partying years stories (or more likely I’ll save them for a post on my blog) over the border in Tennessee. But even though we lived within shouting distance, I never once came here. It took moving all over the world, then settling back in Michigan for me to make this trek.

For a Romance convention no less. That’s right—it’s RomFest 2012. I was greeted last night by giant boxes full of print books, book marks and such. I am to be on an author panel with the likes of Sherilyn Kenyon and Lorelei James. I get to go to a masquerade ball (Beer Wench costume came along for the ride),  a PJ party and a Mayan-themed dance this week. It’s gonna be a trip—my first one!

Pretty psyched.  But I was even more psyched to find one of those elusive “silver stars” next to The Diplomat’s Daughter on the AllRomanceebooks site! And this killer review popped up yesterday:  

The Turkish Delights series is very near and dear to my heart. My experiences in Turkey were not always so great. But many of them were. And I crafted a series around a blended American/Turkish family that more and more folks are finding to their liking. The final novella: Flower Passage-Tarkan’s Return releases Saturday. I hope you guys give the series a shot.  It’s made up of 3 1Night Stand stories (in this order: Turkish Delights/Blue Cruise/Tulip Princess), a prequel (The Diplomat’s Daughter) and that last novella (Flower Passage).  It was one of those longer story arcs that came to me fast and furious and I wrote it as fast as my muse would let me.

Have a great weekend all you Decadents out there---and get yourself some TURKS!

Liz